apollonia 2753

apollonia 2753

The following titles serve to correct erroneous regnal and mint attributions in Svoronos, as well as other untenable ideas. No attempt has been made to include the many publications which describe new varieties unknown to Svoronos.

GENERAL

1. Otto Mørkholm and Anne Kromann, SNG Copenhagen, vol. 41: Egypt: The Ptolemies (Copenhagen, 1974). Best general catalogue of Ptolemaic coins currently accessible to most numismatists, but many regnal and mint attibutions require revision.

3. R.A. Hazzard, Ptolemaic Coins: An Introduction for Collectors (Toronto, 1995). Overview of Ptolemaic coinage to end of dynasty, treated as a series of special topics. See also the review by C. Lorber, AJN 7–8 (1995–96), pp. 256–276.

12. Otto Mørkholm, “A group of Ptolemaic coins from Phoenicia and Palestine,” INJ 4 (1980), pp. 4–7. Reattribution of a small group (including Svor. 701–704, 757, 785–786, 794, and 821) from year 23 of Ptolemy II to year 23 of Ptolemy III.

27. T. V. Buttrey, Excavations at Cyrene: The Coins from the Demeter Sanctuary (University of Pennsylvania, forthcoming). Excavation coins provide overview of Ptolemaic bronze coinage in Cyrene, much of which has been misattributed to Cyprus. For a less detailed treatment, see Buttrey, Studies Grierson, p. 23 n.1.

28. Ino Nicolaou, Paphos II: The Coins from the House of Dionysus (Nicosia, 1990). Excavation coins help to identify Cypriote issues. Unfortunately, the book is available in only a few major libraries.

Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos, nicknamed Auletes (the flute-player), was a son of Ptolemy IX. In 80 BC, he succeeded Ptolemy XI to the throne of Egypt. By now Rome was the arbiter of Egyptian affairs, and annexed both Libya and Cyprus. At the height of his success in 59 BC, after paying bribes to Caesar and Pompey, a formal alliance was formed and his name inscribed into the list of friends and allies of the people of Rome. But in 58 BC Auletes was forced by the Alexandrian mob to flee to Rome. He finally recovered his throne by paying to Roman general Aulus Gabinius 10,000 talents to invade Egypt in 55 BC. Then he reigned on until he fell ill in 51 BC, when he chose his daughter Cleopatra VII as his coregent. This fine tetradrachm struck 54/3 BC apparently commemorates his restoration to the throne.

Cleopatra VII, the daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes ("Flute Player"), upon her father’s death uneasily shared the throne with her brother Ptolemy XIII. Their sibling rivalry of these co-rulers soon involved Rome. Julius Caesar, pursuing Pompey the Great there after the battle of Pharsalus in 49 BC, found his rival executed on the orders of the young Ptolemy, who believed that such an act would endear him to Caesar. Caesar, however, was outraged; instead, he joined with Cleopatra. By the end of the year, Caesar secured for Cleopatra both the capital and sole-rulership of Egypt. In return, Cleopatra bore Caesar a son, Ptolemy XV, nicknamed Caesarion, and in 46 BC accompanied Caesar with their child to Rome to witness his triumph. During her stay there, numerous rumors circulated about their affair: some believed that the statue of Venus Genetrix in the temple of Caesar’s new forum too closely resembled the Egyptian queen, while others thought that Caesar intended to marry her outright. When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Cleopatra, fearing for her own safety and that of her child, fled back to Alexandria to await the outcome of events.

In the ensuing struggle which emerged between Antony and Octavian, Cleopatra sided with Antony. Where Cleopatra’s relationship with Caesar had been more political than romantic, her relationship with Antony seemed to be one of mutual love, and she bore him twins, Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios. Antony’s return to Italy in 39 BC, to secure an alliance with Octavian, and his marriage to Octavian’s sister, Octavia, seriously jeopardized his relations with Cleopatra. When returned to the Egypt in 37 BC to prepare for his oncoming war with Parthia, he was forced to make numerous concessions to Cleopatra for her support. Large sections of the Eastern provinces were placed under the control of both her and her children, and, at the same time Caesarion was recognized as Caesar’s only legal heir. Such acts only fueled Octavian’s propaganda that Cleopatra had bewitched Antony and that Rome itself would be ruled from Egypt.

Antony’s defeat at Actium signalled the end of Antony and Cleopatra, as well as Cleopatra’s son, Caesarion. After Cleopatra’s suicide, Caesarion attempted to flee Egypt. He was betrayed, however, and captured. Octavian, wanting to rid himself of a troublesome rival, had him executed soon after.